SCIENTISTS PLAN EARTH 'CAT-SCAN'.(MAIN)

Byline: San Francisco Examiner

Geologists and astrophysicists have joined in a fantastic scheme to create a 3-D image of the Earth's last frontier -- its scalding, vast and impenetrable interior.

The subterranean imagery might help researchers better understand volcanoes and earthquakes, which are powered by the slow, relentless flow of hot magma beneath Earth's surface.

"It's like CAT-scanning the Earth," said University of California-Berkeley geophysicist Barbara Romanowicz, one of numerous scientists connected with the imaginative scheme. The project was announced Monday at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco.

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